The Titaniferous Iron Ores In The United States; Their Composition And Economic Value. ? Introduction

The term "titaniferous magnetite" is used to designate those magnetic ores of iron that carry more than 2 or 3 per cent of titanium. Large and easily workable deposits of these ores occur in different parts of the world, and have attracted attention for many years. Under present furnace practice, however, the smelting of these ores is both difficult and expensive, and for that reason they are not accepted by furnaces, so that the deposits are practically worthless. The problem of finding a feasible method of utilizing these ores has naturally been attractive, and numerous attempts have been made to solve it. Experiments to that end embrace two lines of investigation. The one that has been the more frequently tried is the elimination of the titanium from the ores, so as to make possible their smelting in the usual way. The other is the devising of a method of smelting by which titaniferous ores may be reduced as economically as are non-titaniferous ores. The former method involves a physical process, the latter a chemical process.